Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Ruby and My Trip to Publix

Today has been a really strange day. First, let me tell you about Ruby. She's our happy 2-yr-old Red Bone Coon Hound who has a love affair with running. As my husband put it, "She puts her nose to the ground and does not look back." I have never seen a faster dog. She's also a fantastic escape artist. As the kids were leaving the house this morning, she slipped right past me and out into the neighborhood. She only runs faster if you call her. In the beginning we would chase her, try to bribe her, yell and scream and talk sweetly to her. We have now come to the conclusion that we just have to wait for someone to call. When she gets tired, she will go up to a house and either scratch or ring the doorbell (really). We keep a tag on her with our information at all times. So around noon, I got the first call. Yes, I said "first". By the time I drove thirty minutes back to our neighborhood, she had already escaped this person's house.

So after combing the neighborhood for thirty minutes with no success, I went to the Publix down the street, which was on my list of things to do anyway today, to wait for the next call. I was in the freezer section when the next call came from another stranger. I warned him that she would try to escape, but he assured me that she was truly "got". I almost parked my cart to run to the car to collect her, but by the time I got to the front of the store, I got another call saying that she had escaped...again. So I finished my shopping, went to the area she was last and called for her, then picked up the kids, and went home and unloaded the car. I had just started dinner when the third call came. This time I turned everything off, rushed the barefoot children into the car and quickly drove several miles away to collect her. She was obviously just too tired to go on. So it ended well...this time.

Does anyone else have this type of dog? If so, I would love some advice. I think she will be a great dog if she survives to adult doghood. We have a fenced back yard and even installed a new front door that quickly closes to keep her from escaping. Apparently from the person we got her from, she had run away from her last owners who did not want her back. I can guess why.

As I mentioned, I wanted to make one more quick trip to Publix before the sales change tonight. Many of my coupons are expiring in a few days so it is my last chance to use them on a sale. If you have these coupons, you may want to go to Publix tonight. Here is what I purchased. Sorry, no picture, too busy chasing Ruby.

3 comments:

We have a pug that used to dart out of the house at every opportunity. He would be gone before I even knew it. Pugs are not known for their speed, but our Joey is one of a kind! His downfall was that he was very predictable as to where he would go: to the neighbor down the street, to poop in their yard. I would find him there every time. They had a dog that they kept tied up and I think Joey would just go there to show off his freedom to the other dog. It was funny but sad at the same time. As he's gotten older, he seems to have lost interest in fleeing from the house. Occasionally he'll make a break for it, but now he prefers just to lay on the front porch. Maybe Ruby will grow out of this bad habit too. She's a beautiful dog. Good luck!

oh my goodness! I had to chuckle a bit at your post since I've met Ruby and seen first hand how she makes a run for it! But I know it must be frustrating. I'm with Tara - hopefully she grows out of it!

Spent the day chasing the dog and STILL managed to spend only $6 on $92 of groceries? Amazing!

We have Invisible Fence and really like it. Not sure how it would do with your breed, but our dog was a runner, too, but will not risk the shock to go out of the yard. As a bonus, we can leave him out all day, even if we are gone and he is always here when we get home. I think he must be happier having 2 acres to roam then to be stuck in the house or the kennel.